Last June, I presented you with the poll numbers for the Democratic Presidential primaries in the first five states. Hillary was in a comfortable position in four of the states. She was behind in South Carolina. In order to refresh your recollection, here they are again.
| Electoral | |||||
| Date | STATE | Votes | Obama | Clinton | Edwards |
| Jan. 14 | Iowa | 7 | 18% | 22% | 21% |
| Jan. 19 | Nevada | 5 | 16% | 40% | 16% |
| Jan. 22 | New Hampshire | 4 | 22% | 36% | 12% |
| Jan. 29 | South Carolina | 8 | 34% | 25% | 12% |
| Jan. 29 | Florida | 27 | 21% | 37% | 20% |
Three months have passed and Hillary is just getting stronger. She appears to be unstoppable. She is way ahead in every state. How can anybody stay in after losing five in a row?
| Electoral | |||||
| Date | STATE | Votes | Obama | Clinton | Edwards |
| Jan. 14 | Iowa | 7 | 19% | 28% | 23% |
| Jan. 19 | Nevada | 5 | 19% | 33% | 15% |
| Jan. 22 | New Hampshire | 4 | 16% | 35% | 16% |
| Jan. 29 | South Carolina | 8 | 27% | 45% | 7% |
| Jan. 29 | Florida | 27 | 13% | 42% | 9% |
If that isn't enough to convince you, the expectation of delegates won in the primaries gives Hillary Clinton almost 3,100 votes with Obama trailing at 208.
The failure of the rest of the pack to stay close convinces me that Hillary will look elsewhere for a Vice President. Her overwhelming strength will allow her to pick a Vice Presidential candidate who will balance the ticket and bring in the centrists. The liberals will vote Democratic anyway. It will be the independent moderate that Hillary will have to win.
Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 1)
1. Agreed. I believe Hillary will choose a good, moderate governor as her VP. Mark Warner was tossed out there before, but now he's running for Senate.
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Patrick at 7:57PM on Sep 18th 2007
2. RECORDS SET
- The only president ever impeached on grounds of personal malfeasance
- Most number of convictions and guilty pleas by friends and associates*
- Most number of cabinet officials to come under criminal investigation
- Most number of witnesses to flee country or refuse to testify
- Most number of witnesses to die suddenly
- First president sued for sexual harassment.
- First president accused of rape.
- First first lady to come under criminal investigation
- Largest criminal plea agreement in an illegal campaign contribution case
- First president to establish a legal defense fund.
- First president to be held in contempt of court
- Greatest amount of illegal campaign contributions
- Greatest amount of illegal campaign contributions from abroad
- First president disbarred from the US Supreme Court and a state court
* According to our best information, 40 government officials were indicted or convicted in the wake of Watergate. A reader computes that there was a total of 31 Reagan era convictions, including 14 because of Iran-Contra and 16 in the Department of Housing & Urban Development scandal. 47 individuals and businesses associated with the Clinton machine were convicted of or pleaded guilty to crimes with 33 of these occurring during the Clinton administration itself. There were in addition 61 indictments or misdemeanor charges. 14 persons were imprisoned. A key difference between the Clinton story and earlier ones was the number of criminals with whom he was associated before entering the White House.
Using a far looser standard that included resignations, David R. Simon and D. Stanley Eitzen in Elite Deviance, say that 138 appointees of the Reagan administration either resigned under an ethical cloud or were criminally indicted. Curiously Haynes Johnson uses the same figure but with a different standard in "Sleep-Walking Through History: America in the Reagan Years: "By the end of his term, 138 administration officials had been convicted, had been indicted, or had been the subject of official investigations for official misconduct and/or criminal violations. In terms of number of officials involved, the record of his administration was the worst ever."
STARR-RAY INVESTIGATION
- Number of Starr-Ray investigation convictions or guilty pleas (including one governor, one associate attorney general and two Clinton business partners): 14
- Number of Clinton Cabinet members who came under criminal investigation: 5
- Number of Reagan cabinet members who came under criminal investigation: 4
- Number of top officials jailed in the Teapot Dome Scandal: 3
CRIME STATS
- Number of individuals and businesses associated with the Clinton machine who have been convicted of or pleaded guilty to crimes: 47
- Number of these convictions during Clinton's presidency: 33
- Number of indictments/misdemeanor charges: 61
- Number of congressional witnesses who have pleaded the Fifth Amendment, fled the country to avoid testifying, or (in the case of foreign witnesses) refused to be interviewed: 122
SMALTZ INVESTIGATION
- Guilty pleas and convictions obtained by Donald Smaltz in cases involving charges of bribery and fraud against former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy and associated individuals and businesses: 15
- Acquitted or overturned cases (including Espy): 6
- Fines and penalties assessed: $11.5 million
- Amount Tyson Food paid in fines and court costs: $6 million
CAMPAIGN FINANCE INVESTIGATION
- As of June 2000, the Justice Department listed 25 people indicted and 19 convicted because of the 1996 Clinton-Gore fundraising scandals.
- According to the House Committee on Government Reform in September 2000, 79 House and Senate witnesses asserted the Fifth Amendment in the course of investigations into Gore's last fundraising campaign.
-James Riady entered a plea agreement to pay an $8.5 million fine for campaign finance crimes. This was a record under campaign finance laws.
CLINTON MACHINE CRIMES FOR WHICH CONVICTIONS WERE OBTAINED
Drug trafficking (3), racketeering, extortion, bribery (4), tax evasion, kickbacks, embezzlement (2), fraud (12), conspiracy (5), fraudulent loans, illegal gifts (1), illegal campaign contributions (5), money laundering (6), perjury, obstruction of justice.
BLACKMANVISION at 10:38AM on Sep 25th 2007
3. BLACKMANVISION: Excellent research.
Rob at 10:54AM on Sep 25th 2007